A former Nigeria international football player, foreign nationals, and several others have been arrested in coordinated anti-narcotics operations across Lagos, Enugu, Kwara, Delta, and at the Seme border by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA.
In its weekly update signed by the NDLEA Spokesman, Femi Babafemi, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Operatives arrested an ex-footballer, Segun George Hunkarin, and his partner Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, a frequent flyer known for shuttling goods between Turkey and Nigeria.
Chinedu was caught with 800 grammes of Cocaine neatly wrapped and hidden in his hand luggage after arriving on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Turkey via Addis Ababa.
Further investigation led to the arrest of Hunkarin, who was waiting at the Airport car park to receive the consignment. Hunkarin admitted to previous involvement in drug trafficking during his years in Brazil.
In a related development, another Europe-based businessman, Amen Okoro Godstime, was intercepted with 5,000 pills of tramadol 225mg disguised as malaria medication while trying to board a flight to Spain via Royal Air Maroc.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, NDLEA officers uncovered a major haul — 17.5kg of Methamphetamine and 3.05kg of cocaine hidden in bedsheets in the luggage of Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, a bar attendant based in Mozambique.
Another suspect on the same flight, Azu Follygan Kpodar, was caught with 1.25kg of liquid Cocaine concealed in a plastic soap container. The 54-year-old, who claimed to be shopping for his wedding, had arrived from São Paulo, Brazil.
Meanwhile, at the Seme border, 26-year-old Beninese National Vode Jean-Luck was nabbed while smuggling 29.5kg of skunk cannabis into Nigeria.
In Kwara State, NDLEA Operatives arrested notorious dealer, Mary Bolanle Oladele, also known as Iya Nafi, in Omu-Aran. She was found with multiple controlled substances, including Skunk, Tramadol, and Flunitrazepam.
And in Delta State, a 72-year-old grandmother, Mrs. Christy Ejaro, was apprehended in Warri with several retail-size sachets of Skunk recovered from her residence.
(Editor: Nkoli Omhoudu)
